Not Everything Is Terrible 🌈

Hi friends!

How are you? I hope you’re doing well. I’m doing okay! I just deleted five cranky paragraphs I wrote about the state of the world that I think we can all do without. This is like the fifth newsletter in a row that I’ve started out writing about how everything is terrible, and that’s not good for me and it’s certainly not good for you.

Besides, not everything is terrible. The tree outside my home office window has little baby leaves on it that are growing and multiplying every day, a surefire sign of spring. I just saw a really pretty bird on it, a little guy with a lot of yellow on his belly. He kind of looked like the cruelly named lesser goldfinch. You’re not lesser to me, buddy!

The weather in L.A. has been all over the place, but that’s not boring, at least. It hailed in Silverlake the other day. Hail is always exciting when it happens, because it’s so unusual. It always feels to me like something’s slightly broken in the sky. Like it’s not really meant to happen.

Last year, all my friends had babies, and now all my friends’ babies are getting so big. Soon they won’t be babies anymore, they’ll be toddlers, which is perhaps the most whimsically named stage of life. They toddle around, therefore, they are toddlers. I find that charming.

So no, not everything is terrible. Just a lot of things.

Last weekend, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in downtown Los Angeles. I’ve been wanting to go see their Ana Segovia exhibit for a minute. It was small, but very cool. Ana Segovia is a Mexican artist who, per MOCA, “twists assumptions about masculinity through a queer lens” in his paintings. The set of paintings on display were recreated stills from an old 1980s musical drama/gay cowboy love story called I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You, which now I’m dying to see. Very cool stuff.

The main exhibition on display at the museum, though, was a very extensive examination of photorealism, mostly in painting, with some sculpture. To be honest, I’ve always thought photorealism was kind of boring. I just felt that photorealistic paintings didn’t have a strong point of view compared to, say, an impressionist painting, or even abstract art. Plus, if you’re trying to create a photorealistic image, why not just take a photograph?

Well, let me tell you, after wandering around this exhibition on Sunday, I finally get it. This was such an in-depth exploration of the genre, with so many different kinds of artwork, it was impossible not to see its value. Photorealism is all about how different imagery is reframed as art, as worthy of examination. It can be political, as in putting a spotlight on people or events that we historically do not see in an artistic light, like Kehinde Wiley’s paintings. It can also be an uplifting of the mundane. Take Catherine Murphy’s painting “Bathroom Sink.” The artist was so dedicated to perfectly recreating this image of cut hair in a sink filled with water that she kept her one bathroom perfectly preserved for months while she worked on it. I spent a lot of time with that one.

One of the reasons I went to the museum last weekend was also because of work. I’m working on a project right now that centers around art and artists, and I had been asked to come up with some creative ideas last week and just wasn’t feeling very inspired. I ended up putting in quite a few hours over the weekend working on it. I just like to be prepared. I probably over-prepare for meetings more often than not, to be honest. I come in with lists. I come in with spreadsheets. I come in with research. I like to do my homework, basically. But sometimes, that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself, especially when your homework is being creative and dreaming up really cool ideas. That doesn’t always happen on a schedule, for me. Thus: working on a weekend, so I could spend a few hours sitting and staring into space.

Speaking of sitting and staring into space, next weekend, I’ll be heading out to Joshua Tree for the first time this year to do some writing. What kind of writing will I be doing? I have no idea, honestly, but I wanted to set that time and space for myself. Looking forward to it.

Let’s get into some things:

- Lately, I’ve been so into this Siamese cat named Merv on Instagram who actually seems to talk, like he’s possessed by some kind of very cute demon. He’s in love with a shirtless gardener named Charles, and I’m just very tickled by him and his weird scratchy voice. Cats, man.

- I’ve also been getting into scents lately. I got a new grapefruit-pine candle from Anthropologie (an absurd $46). I can’t have grapefruit because it interacts with a medication I take, but at least now I can enjoy the smell. I also bought the “Vacation” perfume ($60), which has notes of coconut sunscreen and swimsuit lycra. I’m hoping it will transport me to the summer. I also fell in love with Tom Ford’s “Lost Cherry” perfume last time I went to Sephora, even though I think the name is gross and it’s like $400 a bottle. No, like, actually. It just has this absolutely intoxicating juicy cherry scent. I’m trying to find a decent dupe, if anyone knows one.

- Cooking. I need to catch you all up on some recipes! A couple Sundays ago, Ross and I went over to our friend and neighbor’s place to watch the Oscars, and I made these Milk Bar salted chocolate chip cookies, which are sooo good, y’all! Chewy and salty-chocolatey and delicious. The only thing that’s annoying for me about that recipe is that it requires two tablespoons of powdered milk. Last time I made those cookies, the only powdered milk they had at the store was in an enormous two-pound bag, and it’s literally been sitting in my cupboard ever since, untouched. Food waste really bums me out!

A few weeks back, I made this Thai red curry with chicken, which was super easy and good. I used chicken thighs instead of breasts, because I think they work better in stews, and I served it with rice. Next time, I want to try serving it with naan, because I bet that would be fantastic.

I also made a brand new Smitten Kitchen recipe, ziti chickpeas with sausage and kale, an updated spin on Deb’s famous pizza beans. I think I like it even better than the original! The tomato sauce in that is just yummmm, and personally, I prefer chickpeas to most beans. I’ve noticed that Deb has been posting a lot of recipes with chickpeas over the last year and a half or so, and I’m here for it. I served the ziti chickpeas with garlic bread the first night, then I made “elevated leftovers” the next night by making cheesy pecorino polenta and roasted kale to go with it. I was literally so impressed with myself.

Finally, last Sunday, I made these buffalo chicken dip sliders, which would be great for a party, since you can make them in a large batch. I just made them for us for a regular dinner, though. They were sooo good, if a little indulgent. I ended up doubling the chicken filling because it seemed a little puny for a 12-pack of rolls, and had some extra. I think 1.5x the filling would probably be perfect. I served them with raw celery sticks and carrot chips and extra ranch for dipping. I also served them with an old cold weather favorite, this crispy cauliflower and cabbage salad. I wanted to balance out the richness of the meaty, cheesy sliders with lots of veggies. The leftover sliders kept pretty well in the fridge the next day, too.

- Asian restaurants that are new to me (but not new to Los Angeles). Last weekend, Ross and I went to dinner at Tsubaki, a modern izakaya-style Japanese restaurant in Echo Park. It was all very good, but man, it really made me miss my time in Japan. So many izakaya spots in the U.S. are about “elevating” Japanese bar food, but I don’t want the fancy, $17 version of a chicken skewer! I want the $3 version I had in Piss Alley! I will also say, I am very proud of us, because our reservation wasn’t until 8:30 pm (it was the earliest we could sit inside), and not only did we manage to eat dinner without falling asleep, we stayed up after we came home and even watched an episode of Gossip Girl after (I think we’re around episode 10 in the first season, and it’s getting really good).

A few weekends ago, we met up with a friend at Kobawoo in Koreatown, an excellent recommendation from a coworker. They’re known for their bossam, which I had never had before, but is boiled pork belly that comes with lettuce wraps and fresh radish and all these tasty little Korean side dishes. We also got a kimchi pancake, which was basically like a scallion pancake but with kimchi. It was all sooo good!! I’ve heard their bulgogi is also excellent. I need to eat way more Korean food. K-town is the biggest neighborhood in Los Angeles, and outside of going to Korean bbq or karaoke once a year, I’m rarely over there.

- The Åre Murders (Netflix). This is a limited series Nordic crime drama about detectives investigating murders committed near Åre, a ski resort town in Sweden, and I just wish there were more than five episodes, because I’m realizing that “people investigating horrible murders in scenic snowy surroundings” is tooootally my vibe these days. I guess the show’s kind of dark, because of the murders, but also not really. The detectives aren’t even anti-heros. Their only vice is working too much. Can you believe that? If this were an American show, they would have at least 2-3 heavy vices that threaten to derail their lives at any moment!

The only thing I don’t like about the show is that it tells two different stories, one in three episodes and the other in two episodes, and I find that structure a bit awkward.

- Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. When I talk about this book, I never get the name right (Margo Has Money Problems, anyone?), but I really, really enjoyed it! It’s the kind of book that makes you go, “how has nobody written a story about this yet?” MGMT (ha) is a novel about a 20 year-old recent college dropout who just had a baby and decides to join OnlyFans to make rent. Oh, also, her retired pro wrestler recovering addict father just moved in with her. It explores some dark territories for sure, but what struck me about the book is how funny it manages to be the whole time! I also think the writing is really interesting, particularly how the author switches between first and third person throughout the book. It would be a good book club pick, if your book club is cool with stories about sex workers. Which they should be: I mean, hey, Anora just won the Oscar for Best Picture, which means sex workers are totally respected now and everyone is okay with that! Right??

In all honesty, though, I’ve found over the years that when we talk about mainstream feminism, sex workers are often thrown under the bus, left behind, or just not even acknowledged, as if they’re not needed to “complicate” the conversation around bodily autonomy. But for me, it’s not feminism unless it includes everyone, girlypop! So in conclusion, I think books like MGMT are really important. The End!

Alright, I think that’s as good a place as any to leave it!

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Until next time—not everything is terrible, okay?

Love,

Liz

XOXO